


Partnerships

by ElementalPower



Series: The Recruit [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Mutant Powers, Mutants, SHIELD Family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2018-08-17
Packaged: 2018-12-02 12:44:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 16,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11509704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElementalPower/pseuds/ElementalPower
Summary: Carter is moving to Florida, where she is being stationed by SHIELD. Like all SHIELD agents, she is getting a partner. The question is, is she going to like them.





	1. Chapter 1

Carter had finally finished packing up her belongings. She didn't have much in her apartment, but enough to make it completely hers. He slowly packed all of her posters into tubes and took all of her books from the selves. It has a long process; it felt like she was erasing bits of herself away from where she had lived for the past couple of years. Her sisters would no longer live down the street from her and no more stopping by her parents for Sunday dinner and take home leftovers. She laid in the middle of what was considered her bedroom and stared up at the ceiling.

 

"Are you ready to leave or are you just going to continue to lay there being overly dramatic," her sister's rough voice came from the doorway.

 

Carter just stared at her sister, willing her to leave her alone for just a little while longer. She wasn't granted that.

 

"Overly dramatic it is," Nina stated, sitting down next to her. "Just make it quick. We have to be at the airport in an hour and do not have time for your usually over dramatics. What was it? Eleventh grade. You lied around moping that you didn't get first in the Science Fair."

 

"It was rigged against me," Carter mumbled. "None of the judges liked me."

 

"Well suck it up, buttercup. You're going to Florida. I wish I could go with you.

 

"What's so great about Florida?"

 

"Hot guys...or hot girls...roaming the beach, half naked. What's not great about it?"

 

"I'll be spending the majority of my time inside, with the air conditioning."

 

"Gahhhh!" Nina moaned. "You're so boring. You better go to the beach once. I expect to see pictures."

 

"I won't even be close to the beach."

 

"That's why you met some girlfriends and boyfriends at work and take a weekend trip there. It's not that hard. I'll even let you sit on the beach and read. You don't even have to go into the water. Actually, we probably don't want you to. Salt water and you don't make the greatest combo."

 

"I'm glad you remembered that one small fact about me," Carter said sarcastically. She would have made a joke about Nina and water, but that would have been too cruel.

 

At that point, another figure was standing at the door.

 

"Are you ladies ready?" their mother asked from the door.

 

"I am," Nina said. "I don't know about Carter. She's being really mopy."

 

"She's lived her for years. Don't let me remind you how upset you were when you went away to college. You wouldn't let me go, no matter how much I pushed you away."

 

"And now, it's time to push Carter away. Glad you understand my point, Mom," Nina said as she stood up and skipped out of the room.

 

"Why did you have to give me such a crazy sister?" Carter asked her.

 

"Nope, you're not going to put that on me. You're the one that chose her."

 

"Are the twins coming?"

 

Will wasn't able to get off of work because his boss is a complete... Anyways, I have no clue where Brandon is, haven't for a while. He'll probably pop up again soon. But are you ready?"

 

"Not really."

 

"Neither am I. My baby is leaving the nest."

 

"Technically, I'm not your baby."

 

"Oh hush, you're all my babies. Now, get over here, and give me a hug."

 

Carter stood up from her lying position and walked over to her mom. It always felt amazing when she wrapped all of her limbs around her children. It always made things better.

 

"Ready to go now, kiddo?"

 

"Definitely," Carter said.

 

"Well then, let's get all of the things that you are taking with you. We can send the rest of it to you later."

 

Carter grabbed two suitcases from the floor beside her, handing one to her mom, putting her backpack on that contained some books, her laptop, wallet and all the documents she needed to board the plane. She also picked up the safe that doubled as a briefcase part of the time. She took one last look at her room before walking out of it, her mom walking behind her.

 

They walked to the main room of the apartment, expecting to see the rest of the family that could make it there. When they found the room empty, they left and walked to the elevatory and made their way down. As the doors open, Mal was standing before them instead of behind the desk like he usually was.

 

"I guess this is so long, kid."

 

"I guess it is, Mal. Try to stay out of trouble," she warned him.

 

"You know I won't, kid," the two unlikely confidants hugged before making their way outside.

 

As soon as the two were outside, a tiny body crashed into Carter. Looking down, she saw Danni's dirty blonde hair. She also heard a slight sniffling and knew that her younger sister was crying.

 

"I'm not going forever, little one."

 

"But you're still leaving, sissy."

 

"Not forever."

 

"Feels like it."

 

Carter wanted to hold Danni, but her hands were full. Nina came up from behind the little girl and picked her up on her hip.

 

"Come now, little one, we need to get Carter to the airport."

 

"I don't want her to go," the tears kept on, but they slightly quieted down.

 

Their dad walked from leaning against the driver's side door to grab the things from his wife and daughter, leaving the women to their emotional moment. Because he was not crying, not at all, he would probably say if they asked him.

 

Nina walked to the black SUB behind them and placed Danni down on the seat. Carter and her mom decided to help her dad pack everything. It felt weird to see her entire life practically filled into four containers, and this was just some of the most important things that she couldn't live without for a week or two. As soon as they were done, both parents walked towards the front seat while Carter walked to the second row where Nina and Danni were already settled. As soon as she buckled in, Danni was crowding in her seat. It was amazing that she hadn't choked herself with her own seatbelt.

 

They were off on the way to the airport down the highway. The entire ride was silent without anyone feeling the need to break it. Carter and Danni were cuddled in their seats, Nina was watching an animal documentary on her phone and their parents were concentrating on the road in front of them with their hands clasped together.

 

In the main part of the airport, they made sure to park, because they all wanted to get in. This time, when they got out of the car, Carter was carrying Danni on her hip and everyone else carried her stuff, making sure that her dad was carrying the safe. She felt bad about it, but everyone knew that Danni was not going to let her go anytime soon.

 

As they walked through, Carter noticed that her mom was getting dirty looks. It always made the family uncomfortable when people would do this, especially when only Will's and her differences were prominent. Unfortunately, humans were terrible. They would usually try to glare these people off, but they all didn't have the energy today.

 

Once they got to where Carter dropped off her luggage, Danni's grip grew exponentially. Instead of talking this time, she simply dug her face into Carter's neck. She could feel the salt of the tears reacting to her but said nothing. And then the person at the concierge desk asked them:

 

"You know that you're four hours early, right?'

 

"It's better this way. Trust us," Carter told her, with a blush rising on her face. It increased when the woman in front of them gave them a suspicious look.

 

Well, you can go through security now if you want..."

 

Carter could feel the woman's eyes on her as they walked away. She didn't turn back because she knew that would make her more suspicious and tighten her arm around Danni. When the two of them got to the rest of their family, her father asked her:

 

"You ready to do this?"

 

"Nope, but I rather get this over with."

 

"Come here, little one," the girls' mother said to Danni, grabbing the girl from Carter's arms. "It's time to say 'goodbye' to your sister."

 

"Bye, sissy," Danni said softly, waving her hand softly.

 

"Bye, squirt," Nina said to her, messing up her hair up.

 

Fixing her hair, again, "I'm only a year younger than you."

 

"See you later, sweetheart," their mom said.

 

"Bye, momma." Turning to her dad, she said, "Let's get this over with."

 

The two of them walked side-by-side down to the security checkpoint. Fortunately, there wasn't a long line to get through. The two of them quickly got to the front of the line with ticket and passport at hand. As soon as she got up to the front, a slight beeping had started. All of the TSA agents were looking around trying to figure out where it was coming from. The agent ushed her to go forward, and the sound slowly crescendoes to a loud screech.

 

"Ma'am," another came up to her, "would you mind coming with us."

 

"I'm coming with her," her dad spoke up from behind her.

 

"Sir, you are not allowed to do that."

 

"Seeing as I'm your boss," he said, pulling out his identification, "I'm pretty sure that I can."

 

The woman took his ID and quickly gave it back once she was done looking at it.

 

"Sorry, Director Williams, I didn't recognize you. Who is this woman with you?"

 

"One of my daughters."

 

Oh," the woman quietly said, with an understanding look on her face. Carter guessed she would have understood whith everyone at the agency seemed to know about her siblings. At least it looked like she wasn't going to give Carter a hard time like some people might have. "If you two can follow me, we can have you out as quickly as possible."

 

Carter and her father followed the agent into the back room. From the corner of her eye, she saw the other people in line look at her, but Carter just shrugged it off. They were probably wondering how she could have made them go off from as far away. It was almost always amusing.

 

In a few minutes, Carter was done. She said goodbye to her father one last time as they went their separate ways. It was easier than usual to get through. Sometimes it took her hours to get through airport security. On the other side, Carter quickly found her gate. It was still three and a half hours until Carter would be able to board. She found a quiet spot in the corner and got her laptop out. No better way of passing time than getting lost in a video game.


	2. Chapter 2

As soon as Carter stepped off of the plane, she felt the sweltering Maimi heat. It was almost unbearable compared to the chill airplane that she just stepped out of. She felt sweat start to bubble down her face. She took off the overshirt that she kept just for the plane ride. She quickly made her way through the crowds and into baggage claim. She got there before both the mass of bags and people arrived. She stood in a spot out of the way but close enough to see her bag when it came through. It was one of the last ones.  
  
   
  
  
In her pocket, her phone buzzed. Looking at the notification, it was a text message from an unknown number. Looking at it, it read:  
  
   
  
  
Come outside once you get your stuff. I'm standing outside with a sign with your name on it.  
  
   
  
  
Carter stashed her phone away, grabbed her bags from the floor beside her and dashed outside. The light was instantly blinding compared to the artificial light of the airport. Carter looked around and over people looking for someone carrying a sign with her name on it while simultaneously ducking and dodging people from almost crashing into her. Far off to the corner, she found a sign reading "Carter" being held by a woman with weirdly dark brown hair and large black sunglasses covering her face. Carter left the crowd of people, making her way toward the strange woman. Once she was in viewing range, the woman grew a large smile and waved wildly at Carter.  
  
   
  
Once Carter got to her, the woman pulled some of the bags for Carter's hands and starting directing her another way.  
  
   
  
"Sorry, this is going to be a little bit of a walk. I didn't want us to get stuck in traffic on the way back."  
  
   
  
"That's honestly no problem," Carter replied. "I absolutely hate traffic."  
  
   
  
"By the way, I'm Nadia. On the job, you'll probably hear me being called Agent Rice. I prefer Nadia."  
  
   
  
"Hi, Nadia. I guess you already know that my name is Carter, but I prefer Carter."  
  
   
  
"At least you have a sense of humor," Nadia chuckled, and then turn serious. "Promise me one thing, you'll keep that sense of humor. You'll need it."  
  
   
  
"What do you mean by that?" Carter asked.  
  
   
  
"I'll answer once we get to the car," Nadia replied.  
  
   
  
The two women were silent the rest of the way to a small nondescript car. As the two walked up to it, Carter noticed two car seats in the back. She and Nadia put the bags into the trunk, but Nadia made sure that Carter kept her safe on hand. The two got into the front seat and got settle before slowly departing from the small parking lot.  
  
   
  
"So...," Carter starting slowly. "Why do I need to keep my sense of humor."  
  
   
  
"I'm going to be completely honest with you. Women don't stay in our field for long. When I saw that you were supposed to be here, I was begging to be allowed to come get you, so I could get to you first. We are the only two of a few women left on the tech side of SHIELD. Heck, there are few women outside of medicine and food at SHIELD. It's a guys world, really. You're going to have to deal with a lot of crap, but don't just take it. Fight back when necessary, and keep your head up. Not many people get this far. It's always fun laughing in someone's face when they think you can't do something."  
  
   
  
"What do you do?"  
  
   
  
"I work in personal communications but it's just a fancy way of saying that I'm the person that spies on everyone's social media pages. You, on the other hand, could be doing anything. I looked at your credentials, I have no clue where they are going to put you. You'll probably find out by the end of the week after some testing."  
  
   
  
"Testing?!? Are we still in high school."  
  
   
  
"In some ways, yes. There is an unbelievable amount of drama. In others, no. The entire world sometimes is on your shoulders. But no, these tests are to see where you can be most useful. Where your talents can be best utilized. Based on your skill set, once again, you could be put anywhere. I can see there's another question on your mind. What is it?"  
  
   
  
"The two car seats in the back?" Carter tentatively asked.  
  
   
  
"This is my personal car. I have two young children."  
  
   
  
"How do you balance work and a family? I saw my parents do it, and I honestly have no clue how they did it."  
  
   
  
"If they're the right people, it's worth working towards. It's a lot of hard work, especially when you come home tired some nights. But it is one hundred percent worth it. I wouldn't trade it for the world. Maybe someday you will understand. Now, enough of the mushy stuff. Let me tell you about all the stuff that was sent to you. I'm sure you have tons of questions about it."


	3. Chapter 3

Nadia and Carter pulled into an underground parking lot of a nondescript building. It honestly looked like a normal office building, but that was the point, Carter supposed. Throughout the car ride, Nadia explained SHIELD in a nutshell. How to get to different areas. How to hide the information on her new cellphone. How her badge worked to let her into different areas of the facility. If you asked Carter for her opinion, it was quite sophisticated.  
  
  
  
The underground was filled with a variety of cars in different colors, styles, and ages.  
  
  
  
"This is the section for personal cars," Nadia explained. "Company cars are in another section. The difference between them is starker."  
  
  
  
"What do you mean?" Carter asked.  
  
  
  
"There are some really old cars, some really new cars. Pretty much any car a mission could possibly need. I've only been in there once, but it was just really weird to see."  
  
  
  
As Nadia was saying this, she pulled into a tiny parking space that perfectly fit her car. Turning the car off, they both got out of the car and quickly got Carter's stuff out of the back. The two women walked through the dark underground parking lot. It was really quiet, putting Carter's hair stand on end.  
  
  
  
Reaching the elevator, Nadia said, "Get your badge out, see if it works."  
  
  
  
Going as she said, Carter slipped her badge that was now in her pocket. She lightly pressed it again a scanner bar that was next to the door. A slight beep was beard and the elevator started to run.  
  
  
  
"What's the number pad for?" Carter asked.  
  
  
  
"For when you don't have your badge on hand. Half the time, I never have mine unless I'm doing official business out and about. You'll set up your code tomorrow, but until that get's all set up, take your badge everywhere in here. Especially if you are in a new area."  
  
  
  
The elevator doors had opened up at this point revealing a spacious metal box. The two walked inside. Nadia pressed a button and off they were. The metal box moved quickly with little bumps along the way. The doors opened back up revealing a bright white hallway.  
  
  
  
"This is the hall where you will be staying while you're living here. It's pretty bland because hopefully, you won't spend too much time here."  
  
  
  
"I was given an apartment," Carter brought up.  
  
  
  
"Yeah, that's for use as well. You can spend time there on your weekend, or when your family comes to visit. You can furnish it however you like, given the rent agreement, of course. SHIELD pays the first and last month of rent. You have to take care of everything else. Most newbies spend their weeks here and weekends and alternative housing. I remember I did."  
  
  
  
Along the long hallway, they finally reached a door that Nadia stopped in front of.  
  
  
  
"This is you. Be prepared for bland."  
  
  
  
Carter once again brought her badge up to a scanner. This time, the beep was followed by the click of a door unlocking. Carter quickly grasped the door, opened it, and had her senses overrun by grey. It hurt less than the white of the hallway. Inside, all of the doors were wide open.  
  
  
  
"I guess no one else is here, yet. You have your choice of bedroom. May I suggest the one closest to the hall."  
  
  
  
"Why?" Carter asked her.  
  
  
  
"Let's just say that SHIELD doesn't have a non-office workplace romance policy and leave it at that."  
  
  
  
"Thanks for the heads up," Carter said graciously as she put here stuff in the closest bedroom to the hallway.  
  
  
  
The room was quite spacious, with a made twin bed on one wall, and desk on the other, and a small table area in the center. The walls were blank, without windows.  
  
  
  
"I remember this from when I was first here. It's small yes, but there are other areas to change out. There's a gym, cafeteria, anything you could possibly need. There's laundry around the corner. The keys to this room should be somewhere. Sometime soon you should get a schedule for the next week with tests and whatnot. It's different for everyone."  
  
  
  
"Thank you. Is there anything else I need to know?"  
  
  
  
Nadia took a moment to think to herself. "I don't...think...so. I've been here for years. I kinda don't remember what it's like to be a newbie. Also, everyone gets different expectations, so I don't want to give you any false information that was only relevant for me."  
  
  
  
"Thank you again."  
  
  
  
"No problem. Come find me if you need anything."  
  
  
  
Nadia left the room, closing the door silently behind her. Carter looked around the room, visualizing where she would put everything. She took in a deep breath and started unpacking her stuff.


	4. Chapter 4

Carter woke up to the loud blaring of her alarm clock. She hardly got any sleep with the sound of people banging in the neighboring rooms from moving themselves in. She also had to listen to someone showering late at night and singing entirely off key. Another reason to thank Nadia. Her room was the farthest from the bathroom.  
  
Late last night, she got an itinerary for the week. As all Mondays started, this was going to be terrible. The first thing on the schedule was to go the medical center and have an appointment with the doctors. She groaned as soon as she saw it. She hadn't doctor's appointments. It wasn't because she was scared of needles; there were much scarier things than those.  
  
Carter got out of bed. She peaked her head outside of the room. After noticing that there was no one in the bathroom, she flew into the bathroom with all of her bathroom supplies before closing the door softly behind her.  
  
The first thing she did was check her hair. It was the same brown as before. She hated that she had to be this superficial, but it often felt like she didn't have a choice. After that, she brushed her teeth. While doing that, she felt everyone else's alarms go off. She quickly spit toothpaste out of her mouth and started to leave the bathroom.  
  
As she was walking back to her room, a door on the way opened up. A bed-headed woman walked out of the room. Carter put her hand up to wave hello at the woman, but she just brushed her off and slammed the door behind her. Carter just shrugged it off. It was too early to socialize with anyone.  
  
Back in her room, Carter carefully changed into one of the many uniforms that she had stored away in her closet. It was still weird that they were all in her sizes considering the fact she didn't by them or tell anyone her size. Turning around towards the mirror, she looked at herself. Even she could tell that she looked like a scared little girl wearing her mother's clothing.  The uniform just looked to strict on her, especially compared to the graphic-tee, jeans and tattered sneakers she usually sported. She pulled her hair up into a bun, hoping that it made her look more professional. She kept staring at herself, hoping the to calm herself don't. In short, it didn't quite work.  
  
She pulled out a small navy blue sachel she found in the closet last night as she was unpacking her belongings. She placed a book that she brought with her inside of it along with both phones, badge, room key and laptop she was told to bring with her.  
  
Looking back at the room as she was about to leave. She looked at the bed she left unmade. She was an adult now with a job. She should probably make up her bed. She put the sachel down at the door and went back to make up her bed. Once she felt that it was good enough, walked out, locked the door behind her and walked down to the medical center.  


* * *

  
When Carter finally navigated the maze that was her destination, she was meet with more white walls in what she assumed was the reception. There was no one there, but there was a plethora of chairs and couches that practically blended into the walls. Looking at the only clock on the wall, she was way earlier than she expected that she was. She grabbed a seat in one of the chairs in the corner. She pulled out the book she stored away in her bag. A quarter of the way through the first chapter, other people started to pill in as well. They all had confused looks on their faces but sat down when they saw other people were sitting down. Most people were playing games on their personal phones while others were just fiddling their thumbs. It was a little while before names were being called.  
  
"Carter Williams," a hard voice called from the other side of the room.  
  
Carter looked up from her book, she saw a woman with a no-nonsense look on her face with a stark white lab coat stood at one of the only doors in the room. She quickly put a bookmark in her book and scrabbled to the woman.  
  
As she approached, Carter let out a soft squeak of "here." The woman didn't look impressed.  
  
Carter followed her through an intricate floor plan of offices, operating and exam rooms, before leading Carter in one. The woman motions her towards an exam table while she sat at a computer chair and logged into it. Sitting on the loud, crinkly paper, Carter felt her nerves sky-rocket.  
  
"My name is Dr. Ruth Fieber," the woman said without emotion in her voice. "I will be your primary physician while you are here. I will be the only person who should have your medical information at any time, except for in case of emergencies or if you have an appointment, and I am not available. It is highly suggested that you are honest with me as much as possible. Incorrect information can lead to death if the situation is extreme enough. Do you have any questions at this time?"  
  
Carter shook her head, before realizing that the woman was not even looking at her. "No, ma'am," she finally spoke up.  
  
A slight smirk braced the woman's face. "This is appointment is pretty much going to be a simple physical that you should have had plenty of times before. What is your full name?"  
  
"Carter Ephron Williams."  
  
The woman started to type on the keyboard. "How do you spell that."  
  
"E-P-H-R-O-N."  
  
"Sex?"  
  
"Female."  
  
"Age?"  
  
"Twenty-five."  
  
"Species?"  
  
A second went by before Carter finally answered. "Mutant."  
  
"Mutation or mutations?" the woman asked, not even sparing a second to think about it, which surprised Carter to her core.  
  
"Controlling electromagnetic waves."  
  
"Meaning?"  
  
"I can sense and control electricity, fly using those waves, move objects that are conductors, charge electronics and control them to some capacity." Carter spent a second to think if there was anything else. "Oh, I can pass electricity through my skin."  
  
The entire time that she was speaking Dr. Fieber was just typing away at the computer, not stopping to give Carter weird looks like so many others did.  
  
"Is there any other physical manifestations of your mutation?"  
  
"I have a faster than normal heartbeat, drugs pass through my system a lot faster than normal; I can't go through newer metal detectors. And.. my hair is bright blue."  
  
"Is brown the only color that you die your hair?"  
  
Looking down, Carter quietly responded. "Yes."  
  
Dr. Fieber continued to type on the computer for a bit. Carter could tell that she was writing nothing but the facts. After a while, she spoke up. "There's no need to be ashamed of what you are." This made Carter look her in the eye for the first time. At this point, Dr. Fieber had a softer look in her eye. "Yes, I know that there is still a lot of ridicule today, but there are plenty here. I won't say who they are, because that would end badly, but I would trust some of the people who are here. Some are not as bad as you think. I would suggest some of the younger agents. The older ones are usually assholes, but you didn't hear that from me."  
  
Carter actually started giggling at the last sentence, finally somewhat comfortable in the examination room.  
  
"Are you comfortable enough to finish?" Dr. Fieber asked Carter, still with a soft look in her eyes.  
  
"Yes," Carter said with a grin.


	5. Chapter 5

An hour later, Carter was pacing up and down the hall. According to the schedule, she would be meeting her actual boss. Not the boss-boss, but still. She would also be betting that she would be meeting everyone else at one time if the last time meant anything. There was still about fifteen minutes before time, and no one had shown up yet. She continued to psych herself up. There wasn't anything she could do except totally make a fool of herself in front of everyone else. Nothing to sweat.  
  
Behind her, the elevator doors open. Carter instantly straightened up and leaned against the wall pretending that it was completely natural.  
  
"That doesn't look natural in any way," a familiar voice called from the side.  
  
Carter turned her head to see Nadia walking down the hallway towards her.  
  
"I thought I was being completely natural," Carter responded.  
  
"Pacing up and down the hallway is not acting completely natural."  
  
"How do you know that?"  
  
"I was watching the cameras. I think seeing how the newbie's do."  
  
"You know you sound like a creeper, right? Don't you have work to do?"  
  
"Nope," she said, popping the P. "I probably won't have another assignment for another week. I'm just wandering around in case something comes up."  
  
"So, you're getting paid to watch cameras all day."  
  
"That's what I usually do, so it's not too much of a surprise. I also watch really cringy videos on nearly a daily basis, so this is much better."  
  
"Why are you watching cringy videos?" Carter asked her.  
  
"People are insane. Let's just leave it at that. Sometimes their puck worthy. Watching the newbies is much better."  
  
"If you say so."  
  
By this point, there were several people coming down the hallway. It didn't pass Carter's notice that everyone in the group was male.   
  
"After you're done, meet me for dinner. We can talk about it later." Once the group had met up with them, Nadia stepped back to speak to everyone.   
  
"Hello, everyone. I'm happy to see that all of you are early. That's a good sign. You are now a part of the intelligence community. You may not be at the forefront of all the action her, but you are vital to every single mission. We cannot send out our other agents out without having as much information as possible. For the next week, you will be tested to see where you will be the most useful. Before you ask, I do not know what any tests will be.   
  
"Today is also the day you will get your partners. They will be agents that have been here for only a little while longer than you that do not have a partner yet for whatever reason. You don't have to be the best of friends with them, but you need to figure out a way to make it work. You need to have each other's backs, no matter what."  
  
"Thanks for that lovely introduction, Agent Rice," a swarmy voice called from behind everyone.  
  
"Agent Lawson," she said, a monotone sound replacing her usually lively way of talking, "I was asked to give a talk to the new recruits. Agent Hill asked somebody from every section to as a way to introduce them to the fold."  
  
"Next time I see Agent Hill then, I'll tell her that if I wanted her input, I would have asked her."  
  
"Yes, sir."  
  
"Now, if all of you would follow me," Agent Lawson told the group.  
  
Everyone turned to follow him. As she walked, Carter turned her head towards Nadia, who had an evil stink eye and was mimicking the man. When she met Carter's eye, she immediately shifted into a smile and mouthed "good luck" while giving her a double thumbs up.  
  
Carter mouth "thanks" right back to her and proceeded to be herded into the next room.    
  
The room they were led into was filled with screens. Screens were lined against three out of the four walls. There was an open ceiling with rafters and gigantic fans that somehow spun wordlessly. There were several desks with multiple computer monitors They were directed towards the empty wall and stood in a line. Carter stood in the back of the line being the last one in the room.  
  
"I'm going to do things a bit differently," Lawson started. "I usually let people choose their partners, I decided to make things interesting. I have a line of other agents, that are going to be standing with you in a minute, and they will be your partners. No switching because they hurt your feelings or you don't feel like their the right match. You're going to make it work. Now, turn around. Your partner will stand back-to-back with you. Do not turn around until I tell you."  
  
In unison, the line turned around. The tension could be cut with a knife. When Carter felt another back touch hers, she jumped. She could tell that the person was a bit taller than her, her shoulders hitting just below theirs. Being at the very end, it wasn't long until Lawson gathered their attention again.  
  
"You may now turn around. Say hello to your new partner."  
  
Carter turned around quickly, so when the other person turned, she was completely facing him.  
  
"You...," she stared her new partner down.


	6. Chapter 6

The face she saw in front of her was the same friendly face that tried to pull her into a conversation months ago. The same smile and short dark hair met her eyes yet again, but this time a bit more awkward.  
  
"So, we meet again," he said.  
  
"I guess you weren't part of the newbies as you tried to claim."  
  
"Not at all," he said meekly.  
  
"I'm going to assume that you were just doing your job," Carter told him. "Let's just start over, okay. I'm Carter Williams."  
  
She held out her hand to the taller agent.  
  
"Bryce Gibbons," he responded, shaking her hand in return.  
  
"At least you didn't lie about your first name," Carter said sassily.  
  
"The best lies are the ones that aren't really lies," he said cheekily.  
  
Carter was about to give him another sassy response when Lawson decided to interrupt the groups' introductions to each other.  
  
"Alright, ladies," the man said, "It's time for your first test. I'll let you get setup at your stations. You have five minutes."  
  
The entire room dispersed into little sections as they worked. Bryce led Carter to a small set up in a far corner of the room. Unlike other desks that had about four screens to share between the two of them, there were only two. Carter sat down in front of the one on the left, the side without personal belongings. Getting comfortable in the chair, she turned towards Bryce, preparing for instructions.  
  
"You have your ID, right? I'm going to assume so since you got up here. There's a number associated with your badge, that's your username."  
  
Reaching into her bag, Carter quickly brought her badge out. Sure enough, there was a number written around the sides. She quickly typed it into the username box.  
  
"Now, the password is 'password,'" Bryce continued.  
  
Carter quickly turned, looking Bryce straight in the eye. "You're kidding right?"  
  
"Don't worry. The first thing you're going to do is change it. It's just something so you aren't given some random code you have to type out."  
  
"That's a relief." Carter typed in 'password,' and sure enough, the computer unlocked itself. The desktop background was the SHIELD logo and had a couple of icons open.  
  
"Click the icon with the lower case I. That's where you are going to bring up all of your personal information. You can change it at any time."  
  
She clicked on the icon and was asked to log-in again. She put in the same information that she had before. Here she was brought to a listing of links.  
  
"I assume that you know what you're doing from this point," Bryce told her.  
  
"Don't worry. I got this," Carter said as she clicked 'change password option.' "Turn around. I don't want you to see my password."  
  
"I'm not going to steal your password."  
  
"I don't know you yet. Just turn around."  
  
"Fine," he said, pretending to be put out like a petulant child.  
  
Carter quickly came up with a password that contained a series of symbols, numbers, and letters that she could remember. As soon as she clicked enter, she informed Bryce that he could turn around.  
  
"So, Carter, have any questions that I can answer for you?"  
  
"Yeah. Was calling us 'ladies' supposed to be an insult?"  
  
"I'm pretty sure it was. You'll learn in time that he's pretty old-fashioned."  
  
"Second, why do you have the worst set up compared to others?"  
  
"He doesn't like me. He even made me change positions in line to the back. I'm assuming that he wanted me explicitly partnered with you."  
  
"So in his eyes, we're the underdogs with something to prove," Carter sighed.  
  
"Yeah," Bryce informed her. "And he does so in a way that it's really hard to prove what he's doing. He blames it on sensible things like budget and amount of work done. Of course, if you aren't given assignments or given assignments that are nearly impossible to get done quickly, you're kinda screwed."  
  
"Out in the hall, he sounded like he hated Agent Hill."  
  
"Oh, yeah. He definitely hates her." Bryce looked around the room before leaning in closer to her, whispering "He was up for her position when the spot opened up before. He's pissed that he was here longer, yet Director Fury choose her. She pretty much the second head honcho here, and he technically has to listen to her."  
  
"Wow. First day and there's already so much drama."  
  
"We're pretty much a high school. You freshmen need to catch up."  
  
Their conversation was cut short by Lawson at the front of the room yelling at the room. "Over the next couple of days, I'm going to put you through multiple test to figure out where you can be the most useful. Your first test is to hack into SHIELD's system. You have a four hours. And your time starts, now."  
  
As the word 'now' came out of his mouth, a timer showed up on the big screen. There was the sound of scrambling as everyone moved towards their computers.  
  
"Did he really ask us to hack into our employer?" Carter asked Bryce.  
  
"I think so," Bryce answered confused. "Honestly, hacking is not my specialty."  
  
"What is your specialty then?"  
  
"Languages, mostly. I am fluent in most of the spoken languages and have reading and writing capability and those and more."  
  
"Wow, you must be a child-genius."  
  
"Words just come naturally to me, m'lady," Bryce told her, with a tip of his non-existant hat and bowed sightly.  
  
"You're an idiot," was Carter's only response.  
  
Turning towards the computer, instead of bringing up coding software, Carter brought up a sticky note.  
  
"Is this a new way of hacking that I've never heard of?" Bryce asked.  
  
"No. It's to write notes. I was a freelance white-hat hacker. I kinda know what I'm doing."  
  
"Well, excuse me, princess," he said holding out some of the vowels.  
  
Chuckling at him, Carter told him that she had questions to ask him.  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"Are there any systems that are connected to SHIELD?"  
  
"Not really. It's more of an internal system and server. The most outside source you can get is email and Google searches, but we have an intense firewall, so that would be a difficult thing."  
  
Carter continued to question Bryce on the state of security as far as he knew. Suddenly, a spark of genius came upon her. "Is there any chance that someone hasn't changed their password?"  
  
Bryce gave her a smirk. "There's always one idiot."  
  
Carter quickly got to work. She pulled up a coding program. She quickly typed out a program that would search for usernames based on a password. She allowed for more numbers at the end of the password in case someone added numbers to the end.  
  
"Are all ID numbers nine characters?" Carter asked Bryce.  
  
"I would think so. I've seen people with letters and whatnot in their ID."  
  
Carter set up her program, so that it would only come up with combinations with nine characters, no matter what type of characters. She then opened up a program that would open up a virtual desktop. Since every computer was connected on the same network, it would hopefully let her coding through. The virtual desktop had yet to be logged in, she turned to hack the virtual desktop.  
  
"So you are hacking SHIELD by hacking yourself," Bryce asked her, slightly skeptically.  
  
"Yep. Since it's running through the same network instead of jumping around, it should be much easier."  
  
On the desktop, they saw different characters running down the screen.  
  
"It's still going to take forever since there are nine possible characters," Carter explained to him.  
  
"What's your next step?"  
  
Carter took a while to answer. "I'm going to create a worm that will continue on past the initial hack. Instead of having the original code, I'm going to send the another one that will constantly look for different passwords. It would continue to work after we're done. I may also have it so that it picks up different information off of each account and send in back to this computer. It'll be faster if someone is actively using the computer, but it works. It's slow, but it usually works. I'm hoping that by being on the same network, I can bypass the firewalls."  
  
"Wow," Bryce gasped. "Are you sure you aren't the child genius?"  
  
"What can I say?" Carter mentioned with a grand air of confidence. "Computers just speak to me."  
  
Carter moved to work on her new code. Bryce continued to ask her questions about what she was doing. Since he was asking with genuine interest, she was happy to answer all of the questions he had.  
  
As they were talking, Lawson continued to walk around the room, probably making sure no one was cheating.  
  
"There's a lot of chit-chat going on here," Lawson said with a snide sounding voice. "Lots of talking and not a lot of working. There's an hour left. You are farther behind than anyone else. I want to see your results by the end of it."  
  
Lawson walked away with his nose held high.  
  
"I can see why Nadia hates him," Carter said.  
  
"You met Nadia?"  
  
"Yeah, she picked me up from the airport. She also gave us a welcome, before he cut her off."  
  
"Yeah, he also hates Nadia. Fairly certain he hates all strong-willed women," Bryce explained.  
  
"You haven't explained why he hates you," Carter noted.  
  
"He's an old-fashioned bigoted old fart," Bryce told her with a tired sigh. "It fact, that's how I last partner. Didn't feel comfortable partnering with a gay guy." He said the last part more so directed at Carter, almost as if he was giving her an out.  
  
"Don't worry," Carter replied. "I'm bi, and sometimes I get the worst responses to that. Told that I'm being greedy or more likely to cheat."  
  
"You would think there would be more people accepting of us, but their not the ones speaking. So, we need to stick together. Deal?"  
  
With a wide smile on her face, she said "Deal." She held out her hand to give him a fist bump which he returned. "But with that aside, we have a problem."  
  
"What's the problem? To me, it seems like your doing well."  
  
"He want's results. The program I implemented is going to take time to actually go through. It's going to look like I have no results."  
  
"Yeah, that's going to be a problem," Bryce said solemnly.  
  
They sat there thinking about what they should do. They were both at a disadvantage compared to everyone else. Carter kept typing. It was the least that she could do, show that she was actively working the entire time.  
  
"I have an idea," Bryce told her.  
  
"I'm up for anything right now."  
  
"Well, I know how smart you are, but he's never going to believe it. Why not implement something that down the line is going to knock him on his ass? Of course, show him the program that you've been creating, but something like a safety net."  
  
Carter thought about it for a while. "I can make it so that the worm becomes more noticeable as it gets to the hire security levels. As it collects more data, instead of just sending it to this computer, and also keeps traces of itself. Collecting more and more information so that it can find a way to wiggle through holes in the firewall by matching some data on other computers. It will take a lot longer to go through, but that's the best I can do. Hopefully his superiors see it before he does so that he really can't do anything about it."  
  
"Sounds like a plan. But are you prepared for this to blow up in our face for a while since he'll see us as a worthless team?"  
  
"For the chance of shoving it in his face? Of course."  
  
"Now," Bryce said, turning more serious, "How are you going to implement those changes?"  
  
"Since I made the main code, it should take about thirty minutes max."  
  
Carter continued to work on the coding for the worm. Implementing the changes were easy, but making it so the worm was super noticeable after a certain amount of time would be strange. She had never made it so that her hacking was noticeable.  
  
"How long are you going to make it until the worm explodes?" Bryce asked her.  
  
"How would you feel about three months?" Carter responded. "Enough time to make it a complete surprise, but also to put our mark after being here for a while."  
  
"I've worked here for two years. I can handle three more months."  
  
Carter continued to work on her coding. Within her given time frame, she finished working on her worm. Now, it was just time to wait for her original program to render some results. Carter and Bryce sat there staring at the screen, hoping that there was someone stupid enough to not change there password.  
  
While waiting, Lawson came back over to them, seeing them sitting and staring at the computer screen. "Have you ladies given up already? You have fifteen more minutes left."  
  
"No, sir," Carter said to him, adding sir to seem more submissive and a shy smile. "We were just looking over our code over to make sure there were no mistakes. This is my first day, but I want to put out my best work."  
  
Lawson looked on with a shocked look before a creepy smile appeared on his face before he moved on the next desk.  
  
Bryce turned to Carter with an impressed look on his face. "Nice work, girl."  
  
"I have three older siblings."  
  
"That explains everything," Bryce chuckled.  
  
After a couple more minutes, they got a ping that they found a username for their chosen password. Seeing that there was little time to spare, she sent her worm through the connection she made. She went to the collection folder she created and already found some information slowly downloading onto her computer. Opening them up, she saw that they were schedules and not very explicit information, but it meant her worm was working. But with time, more documents would be collected.  
  
Carter rolled away from the computer, shifting her eyes away from the screen after nearly four hours and rested her head against the table. She instantly felt a hand rubbing her back.  
  
"Now, we wait."  
  
"Are you sure you can wait?" Carter asked him, sitting up in her chair. "If he already hates you, can't he fire you? I'm new, so it can be put down on me still learning."  
  
"Don't worry about it. The only person that can fire you is Director Fury. And for the most part, I'm one of the few translators they have here, and no one knows as many languages as me."  
  
"At least I'm not getting you fired," Carter said relieved.  
  
A few seconds later a blaring alarm filled out of the room. Looking at the front, the time was filled with zeros.  
  
Lawson now at the front of the room yelled at everyone yet again. "Stand behind your chairs. I will walk around and see what you have done with your time. After I'm done, you may leave."  
  
The room was filled with the sound as everyone simultaneously stood up. Carters legs felt a little bit like jelly from sitting in the terrible sitting. Bryce stood up as well with a groan. Carter noticed that they were the only ones making sounds as they stood up.  
  
Whispering to Bryce, she asked: "Is it possible that we have to worst chairs here?"  
  
"From this point on," he whispered back, "just assume we'll get the worse of everything. Like we're probably going to be the last ones looked at.  
  
"At least it will let the program collect more data. It will look more like we tried."  
  
Like Bryce predicted, they were the last ones looked at. After an hour of just standing there, he finally got to them. There were now about twenty files downloaded. As they Lawson was walking over, she saw another file started to download. If it continued, her and Bryce's plan would be ruined.  
  
Taking in a deep breath, she reached her with mind into the system. She felt out the code that she wrote. She dug through the trail that her worm had gone until she had found it. She quickly stopped it in its tracks. She made sure she had a tight grip on the worm before opening her eyes. She saw that the file had stopped downloading and looked like there was an error with the downloading. She got this done as soon as Lawson walked over.  
  
Lawson waved them back as he pulled out the chair. Bryce and Carter took a massive step back, giving the man his space. He clicked around on the computer looking at everything that had been downloaded. After looking around for a bit, he stood up and walked to the side.  
  
"You only had twenty files. Twenty files that were not of importance. And one didn't even finish. You found schedules and nonconsequential notes. What do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
Bryce opened up his mouth to speak. Barely a sound had left his mouth when Lawson has stopped him in his tracks.  
  
"I wasn't asking you, Agent Gibbons. I know that you had nothing to offer. I'm asking Agent Williams. I'm sure the girl has something to say as to why she was so far way from her supposed peers."  
  
"I'm sorry, sir," Carter said meekly. "The time just went by so fast. I thought I was okay, and then half-way through I figured out that there was a bug in a code. Then I took the time to figure out what it is. It was a simple semi-colon and bracket issue."  
  
"I can see that you are new to the hole computer hacking. We'll probably end up moving you some where else," Lawson sighed.  
  
"Is there any way I can get more training in this area?" Carter asked.  
  
"Maybe. Just get out of here."  
  
Lawson walked away from the desk. Carter quickly logged out of the computer and raced Bryce to the door. Once outside the room, they burst out laughing.  
  
"Seriously, having older siblings cannot make you that good at doing that," Bryce told her.  
  
"I was also a Daddy's Girl," Carter admitted.  
  
"When I said that you needed to get along with your partner, I didn't think it would happen this soon."  
  
The two turned around to see Nadia walking towards them.  
  
"I'm sorry. We bonded over our hatred," Carter informed her.  
  
"Totally understand that. Now it's time for dinner. Bryce, want to join us?"  
  
"Shouldn't you be getting home to your kids?" Bryce asked her.  
  
"Nope," Nadia said, popping the P. "The hubby is handling everything tonight. So, are you in or out?"  
  
"I'll go with you guys," he gave in.  
  
"Yes!" Nadia exclaimed, pumping her arm. They started to walk towards the elevator when she stopped as if she just remembered something. "Oh, congratulations, guys."  
  
"What do you mean?" Carter asked.  
  
"Did you forget that I said that I would be watching? I can see what's on every single computer from the where the computer's angled. That, and I can read lips fairly well. I applaud you. I hope your plan works out."  
  
Nadia kept on walking as if she hadn't said anything while Bryce and Carter had stopped in their tracks gasping behind her. Over her shoulder, she called: "Are you two coming? I'm hungry."  
  
Bryce and Carter looked at each with a shrug. They hurried up to catch up to the woman.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know much about hacking or if the time limitations I gave them was possible, but let's give it to Carter's mutation or her being a computer genius. Whichever one floats your boat.


	7. Chapter 7

The trio made their way into the cafeteria. It was fairly full for the time since it was more like a late dinner. The two walked along the line, picking up trays and grabbing different foods that they wanted. Bryce and Carter followed Nadia as she was guiding them to a table near the back. Bryce and Carter sat on one side while Nadia sat on the other.  
  
Carter quickly dug in, realizing that she didn't have lunch that day while the other two ate at a slower pace.  
  
"Is that all you're going to eat?" Nadia asked her, concern running through.  
  
"I mean, I might get seconds."  
  
"There's no protein on your plate."  
  
Meekly, Carter said: "I'm a vegetarian."  
  
Nadia still kept an unimpressed look on her face before walking away from the table.  
  
"Did I do something wrong?" Carter asked Bryce.  
  
"Nah. She's a mother hen to practically everyone. She's probably just getting more food for you," he said as he continued eating. Carter followed his example.  
  
A couple of minutes later, Nadia came back to the table looking fairly pleased with herself.  
  
"Did you have any luck?" Bryce asked her.  
  
"Of course I did. Delilah loves me."  
  
"Who's Delilah?" Carter asked the two.  
  
"She's the best person who works here. If you have any special requests that are reasonable, she's happy to make it. When I was pregnant, she made all of the weird things that I was craving.  
  
"She sounds lovely."  
  
The trio continued to eat when and middle-aged black woman with curly hair tied up in a knot walked over to them carrying a plate of food. She walked right up to Carter's side, placing the food in front of her, and gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders.  
  
"Now, tell me why you didn't ask for more food," the woman demanded.  
  
"I didn't want to be too much of a hassle," Carter meekly replied.  
  
"Trust me, cooking a vegetarian meal is no hassle at all. I keep plenty of stuff in hand. Now that I know you, I can make something for you. It's not like you're one of the idiots who have to have their meat at a certain temperature."  
  
Carter looked at the woman in shock. "People are seriously like that."  
  
"Trust me, darling. Every type of person is found here."  
  
"Of which," Nadia interrupted, "Delilah is the best person ever."  
  
"That's because you think with your stomach, girl."  
  
"I'm offended," Nadia said with a scoff.  
  
"Well then, I'll leave you three to your dinner," Delilah said.  
  
The woman walked away back where she came from. Carter immediately dug into the tofu dish she was provided. Feeling slightly satisfied, she started to question Nadia and Bryce.  
  
"So, what's with partners thing? I understand with field agents, but not really us."  
  
Bryce started. "Everything is down in partners. The adult version of the buddy system. I'm pretty sure SHIELD would collapse without partners," Bryce ended with a chuckle.  
  
Nadia took over from there. "It's pretty much being able to alternate. One person sleeps while the other one's awake. With the high-intensity work, it's a system that everyone uses because we can be working on a project for days without really being able to stop. Also, you can be pulled at any moment from working on one project and it's good if someone else can still work on it. It makes sense once you really start getting put on projects."  
  
Carter contemplated what she was told. "My next question is why was the selection random?  
  
"Honestly, I don't know. I think Lawson did it for giggles. I never understand what that man does, and I really don't want to know what's going on in his head. Usually, their picked based on compatibility or different expertise that would mesh together."  
  
"I'm sure he put us together because he wanted us to fail," Bryce mentioned.  
  
"Yeah, I saw that. But hopefully, you guys are going to show him up in a couple of months."  
  
Carter was going to ask another question when she heard a cellphone ring from her bag. She reached into it and pulled out her personal phone. She saw her mother's number on the screen and quickly answered.  
  
"Mom?" Carter asked.  
  
" _Hi, Dear. How was your day?_ "  
  
"Not bad."  
  
" _What did you do today?_ "  
  
"Nothing much. Just meet my co-workers and got my desk set up." Carter looked up at the people sitting with her and saw their amused looks on their faces.  
  
" _I don't understand why you had to go in today. You just moved yesterday_."  
  
"Mom, they paid for my plane ticket. I can't really complain. Also, the apartment was pretty much set up. I'll finish unpacking once my stuff gets here, but I'm good with the stuff I brought with me."  
  
" _Are you eating?_ "  
  
"Yes, mom. I'm eating."  
  
" _Are you sure?_ "  
  
"I'm sure, mom. I'm in the middle of eating dinner right now. And there's protein before you ask." Across that table, she heard snickering from Nadia.  
  
" _At least you're eating. By the way, Danni wants to talk to you. Can you spare a bit?_ "  
  
"Yeah, I can talk to her." On the other end, she heard the phone changing hands. "Hello, little one."  
  
" _Hi, Sissy. I miss you._ "  
  
"I miss you too."  
  
" _It's really weird not being able to feel your presence nearby. I would be better if I could see you._ "  
  
"How about this? Sometime this weekend, after I finish moving it, we can have a video call. We can make it a weekly thing if you like."  
  
" _Yes! Yes!_ "  
  
"Alright, we can talk sometime over the weekend. I'm kinda sleepy and would like to go to sleep soon.  
  
" _Night, night, Carter._ "  
  
"Night, night, Danni." The other end went dead, and Carter hung up. He let out a deep sigh.  
  
"You did fairly well," Nadia commented with a gentle smile.  
  
"I'm used to telling my family everything."  
  
"Staying as close to the truth is the best way to help," Bryce told her. "Instead of being on a mission abroad, you are on a business trip. Instead of doing things of national security, you are working on matters that the company doesn't want to get out. The best thing to do is stay as close to the truth as possible. That way you don't have too many lies to remember."  
  
"He's right," Nadia continued. "I've heard that it's worse for people who are really close to their families. I didn't really have that, and I'm fairly certain Bryce didn't either. But hey, you have a family that loves, and just remember that you are doing this to keep them safe because, at the end of the day, that's what we're doing."  
  
"Thanks, guys," Carter said.  
  
"I have nothing this to do this weekend. I can help you move in," Bryce said.  
  
"Thanks so much."  
  
"I have a family thing planned for this weekend," Nadia stated. "I would help if I could."  
  
"It's totally fine. I completely understand."  
  
"Well anyways, I think we're all done with dinner," Nadia mentioned, looking at all of their empty plates. "I would love to talk to you guys some more, but I really want to get home to my kids. I'll see you, guys around. Carter, I hope that you do well with your other tests, whatever they make be."  
  
"Thanks, Nadia."  
  
The woman turned away with her tray in hand before throwing a peace sign over her shoulders.  
  
"So, what to do now?" Carter asked Bryce.  
  
"We should go to sleep. You still have a bunch of tests to complete and you need to have all of your energy, especially since Lawson is gunning after you."  
  
"Why me?"  
  
"Just think. In three months time..."  
  
"That's the only thing getting me through this. What happens after all the tests are done?"  
  
"Who knows? It kinda depends on how Lawson is feeling. But other than the tests, there's not going to be going on for the week."  
  
"Awesome. Let's get out of here."   
  
Carter grabbed her tray and stood up. Bryce was quick to follow her. They put their trays on the conveyer belt and left the room. The made their way to the elevator and continued theorizing what Lawson had for them the next day. They got off on different floors, saying goodbye to each other.  
  
Carter stepped off on her floor with her head held high. She may have a dick for a boss, but she knew her new partner would have her back. She entered her room, which contained loud giggling girls. They seemed in shock when she walked into the room.  
  
"We were wondering who our other roommate was," the one with curly blonde hair said.  
  
"Especially since you weren't with us," the one with straight black hair said.  
  
"Yeah, I was expecting we would only be rooming with people from our section," the one with straight blonde hair said.  
  
"Sorry to disappoint," Carter said awkwardly.  
  
"I'm Cindy," the first one said.  
  
"Rebecca," the next one said.  
  
"Julie," the last one said.  
  
"Carter."  
  
"So, where were you today?" Cindy asked.  
  
"I was with information."  
  
"So, you're one of those tech geeks," Rebecca said.  
  
"That's one way to put it."  
  
"So, you're just here to look things up on the computer?" Julie asked.  
  
"I'm pretty sure there's a lot more that goes into it than that."  
  
"We got here for our fantastic abilities in the field," Cindy decided to brag.  
  
"Yeah," Rebecca continued. "We were specifically scouted because of our previous experience."  
  
"I'm pretty sure that's how most of us got here," Carter told her.  
  
"So, you think that you are better than us?" Julie asked with a tone of snark. The other two also seemed to give her dirty looks.  
  
Carter had no clue where that came from. She said nothing of the sort. "No, I meant nothing like that. I'm sure both departments are equal here. Maybe it's because I'm tired that it came out wrong."  
  
"Good," Cindy said with a fake smile. The three girls went into the room farthest from the door and closest to the bathroom together and started giggling.  
  
Carter just sighed and opened up her own personal door. That conversation just confused her. She had no clue how in one short day, they knew how to talk in a certain order. Carter simply grabbed her pajamas and toiletries and raced to the bathroom before someone decided to get in the shower. She thought about locking the door but realized that the only toilets were in this room and that would have been rude.  
  
Carter was quick to get into the shower. Through the entire thing, she heard what could only be described as screeching. There was no way she was trying to decipher what was being said or who was saying it.  
  
She left the bathroom soon after, with brushed teeth, wet hair and her worn clothes in her days. She passed the room that other three were in. It went quiet for the second before whispering started.  
  
'Bryce was right,' she thought. 'Just like high school.'  
  
Personally, Carter didn't see anything wrong with an old T-shirt and sweatpants to sleep in. It wasn't like she had anyone to impress while she was sleeping. She just put the three girls in the back of her mind as she prepared for the night. She pulled in both phones to charge overnight and got the book she was reading earlier out of her bag and read it for a while before she got tired. Before tucking herself in, she prayed for a better day tomorrow.


	8. Chapter 8

Carter was munching on a bagel as she was working to find the room she was supposed to be in fifteen minutes. She was walking up and down the same corridor, but couldn't find the room. Eventually, she found a small nook in the corner. Looking around it, she found a small hallway. She walked down this small entryway and found that room she was looking for. After stuffing the bagel in her mouth, she walked inside.  
  
The room was full of computers. there were tables lined up with computers of all kinds with chairs directly in front of them. Along the back wall was a variety of computer parts. She turned around as she heard the door often. She tensed up, thinking it was Lawson, which thankfully it wasn't. Bryce came strolling into the room without any cares. He saw Carter and stopped in his tracks.  
  
"You're here early," he told her.  
  
"I figure I would get lost, which I did. I barely saw this room. What is this room by the way?"  
  
"The computer repair area, I'm pretty sure. As you can guess, I don't spend much time here."  
  
"Well I think I've figured out today's test," she told him.  
  
"Yeah. It's probably exactly what you think. There's not much that happens in this room."  
  
Carter was about to ask Bryce another question when the door opened again, and this time, Lawson did, in fact, walk in. He saw the two of them standing and gave them a suspicious look. "What are you two doing here so early?"  
  
"I thought I would get lost trying to find this room," Carter explained.  
  
"I'm always early," Bryce bluntly said.  
  
Lawson continued to stare at the two of them, thinking they were up to something. Carter noticed that he was carrying a large stack of clipboards. He walked over to the line of desks, put the clipboards down, and pulled out a chair and turned towards the two agents already in the room. The tension could be felt through the entire room.  
  
"So, seen any new shows lately," Bryce asked her.  
  
"Not really, I spent the last couple of weeks rewatching Sailor Moon. You know, girl power and what not."  
  
"Subbed or Dubbed?"  
  
"Subbed. The dub doesn't even have all the episodes. And they made that Uranus and Neptune cousins when they have one of the cutest relationships."  
  
"So, you've been relieving some 90's cheese."  
  
"It's not cheesy." Bryce gave her a look before she continued. "Alright, it is a bit cheesy, but I love it anyway. You can make me change my mind."  
  
Bryce held up his hands in surrender. "I won't try to. I don't genre shame."  
  
"Alrightly then, what have you been watching, Mr. I-don't-genre-shame?"  
  
Bryce took a minute to think about it. "I've been mainly watching Ranma 1/2."  
  
"Wow, dude. And you're judging me on watching cheesy shows. That's older than Sailor Moon."  
  
"Well, it's my first time watching it, so I don't think it counts."  
  
Carter spends a minute blinking at him. "I... suppose... that could be taken into consideration. I need to talk to my people first."  
  
"Please talk to your people and get back to me."  
  
As they were having this conversation, more people were meandering into the room. Soon, all of the teams were in the room having their own conversations amongst the teams or their own partner. Chattering filled the room until Lawson stood and clearing his throat. The room instantly went silent.  
  
"This morning, I'm going to see your competency with computers. I know I tested your hacking abilities, but I learned that that has nothing to do with how well you can fix them. Along this table are ten computers that we have set up with a multitude of problems. You are going to look at each one for five minutes, note down the problems and what you would do the fix it. I have clipboards. At the end of this hour, I will collect them back and score you. I'll have the results by the start of our next testing exercises."  
  
The group lined up to grab a clipboard and sat down at a computer each as Lawson continued going over the rules. "You will be doing this alone, without any help. If I see you cheating... Just don't let me see. you. You may click around the computer to your heart's content. Just don't change any setting or press any buttons. At the end of every period, you will move to the right. You may begin... now."  
  
Carter turned towards the computer. She was sitting directly next to Lawson. The only good news was that she would continuously get farther away from him. She shook the mouse, waking up the screen. She was first brought to a desktop· with icons in no particular order. She tried to move the mouse, but it moved way slower than she was moving or it would teleport across the screen. Initially, she moved to restart the computer but remembered that would probably be breaking the rules. Think about what she should do, she decided to look into the hard drive. The insane number of files might have been a clue. Sure enough, there was only a megabyte of space left. Taking the pen off of the clipboard, she wrote her name and inside of the corresponding space put that files would need to be compressed, a larger hard drive would need to be acquired or that the unneeded files needed to be transferred. She finished that, trying to find any other problems with the slow computer before the time was up. Lawson called for time, and she exited out of what she was going and shot over to the chair beside her. For the next hour, Carter went through the same process trying t find all of the problems she could in the time limit. If you asked her, this was too easy but kind of understood that people needed to show they had this kind of skill.  
  
After the final time was called, Carter sighed in relief. Even though she knew that she could do this, it wasn't the best feeling to be tested in such a way. She stood up and got into the line of people waiting to hand back their clipboards. After she handing back her clipboard, Lawson spoke up again.  
  
"Now, that this is finished, I'll see you for our next test. I will "grade these" and tell you how you did. Dismissed," he said and went to look at the assignment.  
  
Carter noticed that he moved her to the bottom of the pile as if expecting that she wouldn't do well. She rolled her eyes since there was no way he could see her and walked over to Bryce.  
  
"It's way too early to have lunch," she told him. "What should we do?"  
  
"I wasn't given anything to do for the week, so I was just going to play some games."  
  
"Oooh, which ones?"  
  
"No clue yet. Probably whichever ones happen to be on my personal computer."  
  
"Cool, I brought mine as well," Carter mentioned, motioning towards the bag she had brought along with her.  
  
"Mine's at my desk. We can hang out there until lunch."  
  
"Lead the way, good sir," she told him a flourish.  
  
Bryce chuckled as he led her out of the room. Luckily this room was on the same floor as the offices they were in on the previous day. It was less ominous without the gigantic timer flashing in the middle. Instead of the timer, there were multiple types of maps showing at the screen: ones showing traffic density, population densities of different countries, electricity use and weather patterns, to name a few.  
  
"This is more like I was expecting from this room," Carter informed Bryce.  
  
"Yeah, Lawson likes scaring people. I wouldn't be surprised if later on that gigantic timer is back."  
  
Carter and Bryce continued to walk through the room until they got to their desks. Carter quickly set up her laptop on the desk, turning it on. As it was turning on, Bryce pulled a laptop from one of the drawers and turned it on as well. Both put in their passwords and choose a game to play.  
  
"You know, you were right," Carter started.  
  
"What was I right about?"  
  
"That this place is pretty much high school. I think my roommates already hate me."  
  
"What did you do?" he asked with intrigue.  
  
"Apparently, by saying that we all were asked to be here, I was saying that I was better than them."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I had the same reaction."  
  
"Were they field agents?"  
  
"I think so. They kept alluding to it."  
  
"That makes sense then. For whatever reason, the newer ones think they're the shit. Just wait until they get their first mission or are paired off against the older agents. They get more tolerable after that, usually."  
  
"Usually?"  
  
"There's always an exception."  
  
"Great. I'm hoping that I won't have to fight them."  
  
"Are you scared they might beat you up?"  
  
"As if. I know how to defend myself."  
  
"If you ever get into a fight, I'll be sure to put money on you."  
  
The two continued to talk about absolute nonsense while they continued to play games. After a while, Carter froze. She started looking around the room.  
  
"Are you okay?" Bryce asked her.  
  
"By any chance, is Nadia still watching us today?"  
  
"I don't think so. I saw that she was pretty busy earlier. She's probably still working. Why?"  
  
"I feel like we're being watched. Maybe I'm just being paranoid."  
  
"Nah, this place kinda does that to you. You get used to it after awhile. It's not like we're doing anything wrong, so no reason to be especially jumpy about it. There are probably cameras everywhere, some the Nadia doesn't even have access to. You never know."  
  
"Well, I'm an angel, so I have nothing to worry about."  
  
"You have a devious streak in you. I can tell."  
  
"Who? Me?" Carter said with a chuckle. There was no denying that she was slightly devious when she wanted to be.  
  
They continued to talk about nothing in particular until Bryce's stomach started to grumble.  
  
"Really, dude?"  
  
"Sorry, I woke up late and didn't have time to grab anything."  
  
"Why did you get there early? You had plenty of time to grab something."  
  
"I started to show up early after some of my work got destroyed since I left it on my desk at the end of the workday. Don't know who did it, but it hasn't happened again since even though the first person here is always Lawson."  
  
"That's so weird. You would think that that would put more work onto him."  
  
"Lawson's a weird dude. I don't have any proof, so it's not like I can say anything. Anyways, I want lunch. What to join me?"  
  
"Sure, I could eat."  
  
Carter and Bryce saved their games and shut down their laptops. Bryce stored his away in his desk while Carter put in back into her bag. The both stood up and walked out towards the cafeteria.  
  


* * *

  
Carter and Bryce were settling back into their desks when Lawson came in, with a look of disgust on his face. A couple of steps in he hid the look with professionalism. Carter and Bryce gave each other a look, confirmed that the other had seen that as well. Up front, the screens had blanked out again. Instead of a timer, there was a leaderboard came up.  
  
"The results of the last test were quite surprising," Lawson started. "I also had others check the results. The point system was as follows: five points for every correctly answered problem, one point for every correct possible option to fix the problem, and negative points for incorrect answers."  
  
Behind Lawson, the leaderboard was filled in with last names, pictures, and points to the side. At the very top sat Carter's picture, with "Willams" beside it, and 120 points.  
  
"I would like to congratulate Agent Williams. She was the only one who found all the problems we set on the computers. She also found others that we didn't purposely put there. I would also like to point out that everyone else got number four wrong. I don't know how that happened, but we will go with it. Very soon, I will hand you a flash drive. Don't put it in until I tell you to."  
  
Lawson started walking around the room passing around flash drives. Bryce turned towards and held his fist out. "Nice going, Rookie."  
  
"Thanks. I'm actually surprised by how badly everyone else did," Carter responded and answered his fist with her own.  
  
"By the way, what has the problem with four?"  
  
Carter leaned in to whisper into Bryce's ear. "The computer wasn't on." Leaning back, Carter saw his shocked face before he burst out laughing, covering his mouth so he wouldn't be as loud.  
  
"Really?" he asked, gasping for breath.  
  
"Yeah. I'm actually surprised that no one else noticed."  
  
"Well, that one point against him. You guys are technically one-to-one."  
  
"Yeah, hopefully, this next one is a piece of cake as well."  
  
By this point, Lawson had gotten to them, handing them a flash drive with the number ten printed on it. "Congrats, Agent Williams. I surprised by how well you did," he said sarcastically.  
  
"Thank you, sir," Carter said. "I've sent a lot of time diagnosing computer problems in the past."  
  
"Well then, let's see how you do on the next test."  
  
The man walked away, back towards the front of the room. Once there, he started talking once again. "On the flash drive I gave you, there is a series of files. They're not real, but you should treat them as such. In our day-to-day lives, we rely on being able to find information quickly and effectively. Because of this, I would like to see how you organize information. Like the last time you were in the room, you will have a time limit of four hours. I don't expect you to finish completely, but make an effort. Your time begins now."  
  
Carter logged into her computer. As it was slowly unlocking, she uncapped the flash drive. As soon as the computer showed the desktop, she plugged in the flash drive. Opening the folder, she saw it filled to the technological brim with files. Turning to Bryce, she said, "I have a bad feeling about this test."  
  
"Why do you say that for?"  
  
"I don't know. But I just have a bad feeling."  
  
"So, what are you going to do for this test?"  
  
"Open a bunch of files and try to organize them, I guess. What else am I supposed to do?"  
  
"I guess your right. Have fun I guess."  
  
"What are you going to do while I go about organizing these files? It's really a one person job."  
  
"I'm going to play another game. You have fun with that. I'm going to forget all about it."  
  
"You've been a great help," Carter told him dryly.  
  
"You're very welcome," Bryce said cheekily.   
  
He had already gone ahead and pulled out his laptop again. Instead of continuing to pretend to be annoyed at his antics, Carter to work organizing her folder of random files. After the four hours were completed, Carter was not satisfied with her work, but that was to be expected given the absolute terror of the number of files. Lawson went back around the room, collecting flash drives as he went around and letting, leaving Bryce and Carter to be the last ones yet again.  
  
"I hope that you did better on this than the last time we were here, Agent Williams," he said as he walked towards them.  
  
"I wished I had more time, to be honest, sir," she said as he handed the flash drive over. He ignored them as he walked away. Turning to Bryce, she asked, "So, want to get dinner?"  
  
"I could eat," Bryce responded. "Let's get out of here."  
  
The two walked out of the room, yet again, in search of food.


	9. Chapter 9

Carter walking into the office with her head held somewhat high. She knew why did well on the two tests but there was still a sinking feeling in her stomach. She could barely eat breakfast with the feeling, so she forced applesauce into her.  
  
She walked over to her desk and found Bryce already there. She walked over and sat down in her seat, placing her satchel on the floor next to the wall. "You weren't kidding when you said, you were always busy," she mentioned.  
  
"Yeah," Bryce said a bit distracted.  
  
Hearing how far away he was by is tone, Carter asked: "Is something wrong?" She looked over at his screen and saw that he had his email open.  
  
"Not wrong, per say. Just weird," he told her before turning to face her. "Lawson just sent me work to do, but we're not supposed to be doing anything while our partners are being tested."  
  
"That sounds like I got some kind of job already," Carter theorized. "I assume something with fixing computers and organizing information is a job since he thinks I'm terrible at hacking. That would be the only thing that would the only thing that makes sense."  
  
"That's a definite possibility," he agreed. "I'm still not going to start it before he gets here. I'm still kind of hoping that he sent it to me so he wouldn't forget. This file is massive."  
  
"Scared of hard work," she teased.  
  
"No, but I am scared of busy work."  
  
"What kind of busy work could you be given?"  
  
"I once had to translate a bunch of menus of restaurants someone went to," Bryce deadpanned. Once he saw Carter incredulous look he continued. "I'm completely serious. Lawson said there might be a code in the documents because I'm decent at cryptography, by they were just normal everyday restaurants that had nothing to do with the people we were investigating."  
  
"And he got away with that?"  
  
"Oh yeah. I was technically working on something within my expertise."  
  
"I hate it when the baddies are smart," Carter told him jokingly. "It makes my job so much harder."  
  
Bryce started to laugh at her statement. "I've never heard a truer statement."  
  
Others at the point had started to trickle in. It slowly started to fill up with other agents. A question Carter had on the top of her tongue finally let itself be known. "Why are there so few of us?" she asked Bryce. "I mean, there are only twenty of here."  
  
"It's because this is only one team," Bryce explained. "You haven't seen to other teams within the information sphere. Lawson is technically out handler, so to say. This is a pretty large team all things considered. As you go up in security clearance, the teams become a lot smaller as information needs to stay within a smaller group of people."  
  
Carter listened intently to what he was saying. It made sense in retrospect. She didn't think she would have worked with everyone in the agency, but she thought she would have seen other people. As soon as the clock struck nine, Lawson walked into the room, and it became deadly silent. Carter was guessing that since everyone else was embarrassed with the results from yesterday. Lawson walked towards the front of the room with a semi-pleased look on his face.  
  
"I'm pleased to tell you that one of you found her job," Lawson stated. It didn't anytime to figure out it was Carter since she was the only female in the room. "After her impressive performance yesterday on both tests, she is completely done with testing, and she will begin actually working. For now, I'm going to give the rest of you your next test."  
  
Carter and Bryce tuned him out and looked at each other. Carter had an interested yet scared look on her face, while Bryce had an annoyed look.  
  
"Here's to no busy work," he whispered to her. He turned back to his computer and clicked the email back open. He downloaded the document. He groaned once he saw it. "It's a hundred pages. This is going to take a while."  
  
Bryce continued to skim through the document he received. Carter just watched all of the characters that were filling the screen. It was amazing to her that someone wrote that much that wasn't a fictional novel. Sometime later, Lawson finished explaining the next test and another timer was ticking down on the front wall. He slowly made his way over to Bryce and Carter and cleared his throat. The two of them looked at him.  
  
"I see that you found the file I sent you, Agent Gibbons," Lawson started. "I would like it completely translated within the next week."  
  
"Yes, sir," Bryce answered without emotion. He turned back towards the computer and opened up a word file and split the screen for the files.  
  
"Agent Williams," Lawson continued. "If you would follow me."  
  
The man didn't even wait for Carter to reply before turning around and started to walk. She quickly grabbed her bag and sped over to catch up with the man. Once she caught up to him, he continued talking.  
  
"What I want for you to do is archive some of our older files as we never truly throw anything away. Based on how you organized things for the last test, you will be perfect for the job. Also, as problems pop up, I would like for you to deal with them. You showed yesterday that you are the only one capable of such a thing." He grumbled the last but under his breath, but it was still loud enough for Carter to hear. He moved over to an elevator that was down the hall and pressed the up button.  
  
"Yes, sir," was the only thing Carter replied with. She wouldn't know what she would need to do until she saw what she was working with. He put his badge against a scanner before pressing a button for one of the top floors. When the elevator doors opened again, she saw the number 5 painted on the wall. She hadn't seen any of the other floors painted with numbers.  
  
Carter continued to follow Lawson as he walked through another set of doors after putting his badge up to another scanner.  She followed him through a long walk-way. Carter was wide-eyed at the equipment that she saw through other locked walkways. Carter was in absolute awe. Lawson led her to the very end of the hallway and swiped his way into the room. There were no windows and this room was lit by only two blinking lights.  
  
"I hope you remembered the way to get here because I will not be showing you again. You only have access to this floor and this single room, so don't try any other door. This is where you are going to find everything you need."  
  
"Is there any preferred order of archiving?" Carter asked.  
  
"Oldest first and then move on. You will organize everything by year. You can bring everything down to the office. You should be able to bring an entire year downstairs in one go."  
  
Carter unlatched a box that was closest to her. She looked inside and found piles of papers inside of it. "So I just need to scan everything and organize them into the computer. I can definitely do that."  
  
"You won't be scanning anything," Lawson informed her. She turned toward him in shock. "They may be old files, but we don't want them to have any access to the internet. There are flash drives available to you and I ask that you label them accordingly."  
  
Lawson left the room before Carter could explain to him that that was not how scanners worked. She was left alone in the cramped room. The flashing lights were starting to annoy her. She felt her way into the wiring of the light bulbs. The metal inside was slightly off so she smoothed it back into place. She opened her eyes up again to see that the lights had stopped blinking.  
  
Carter took in a deep breath and looked for the boxes that from the earliest year. She was amazed to see boxes labeled from a couple of years before World War II. She found three boxes from the earliest year found. She would guess that bringing an entire year down was an order rather than a suggestion. She moved the boxes close to the door. She turned to search through the desk there. Sure enough, there were unopened packages of flash drives. She opened one and placed one flash drive in the pocket of her bag.  
  
Before she moved to open the door, she made sure that the boxes were securely closed. She stacked them all on top of each other. She opened the door and stuck her foot in the walkway so it wouldn't close on her. She squatted down and lifted all three boxes. Had she not have been decently strong, she would have dropped them all on her foot.  
  
She walked backward out of the door and out into the hallway. She heard the door slam in front of her, but she couldn't see for the boxes in front of her face. She looked over to the side and saw that the door did in fact close behind her. She started to walk down the hallway in the path that she remembered. Every so often, she would peak her head out from behind the boxes. She was halfway through when she hit something. She leaned back from the surprise but before she could right herself the weight of the boxes pushed her backward.  
  
Carter hit the floor hard as the boxes also fell on top of her. The weight was slowly leaving as someone she saw from the corner of her eye pick up the boxes.  
  
"You know," a familiar said, "we should really stop meeting up like this."  
  
Carter turned her head to where the voice was and saw the same cocky grin from a few months ago. He grabbed for her arm and helped her stand up. She gratefully took the help and started rubbing her back on the way up. This time she looked into the starking blue eyes of the person in front of her now that he wasn't wearing aviators. "Let me guess," she said. "Not Jeremy."  
  
"Nope," he said popping the P.  
  
"Let me guess, you bumped into me in order to plant a listening device in my apartment."  
  
"I didn't plan on bumping into you. I was just going to sneak in when you weren't there, but the opportunity showed itself."  
  
Behind him, a woman with bright, short red hair walked up. "Clint, what are you doing?" she said with a no-nonsense voice with a raised eyebrow. "Are you messing with people again?"  
  
"Come on Nat," he replied. "You know me."  
  
"That's exactly why I was asking."  
  
Carter just stared at the two of them. They were obviously fairly comfortable with each other as they were having a quite playful conversation. Carter without a doubt would say they were very attractive, and so far out of her league. In their uniforms, she could tell that they were very fit. Both had detectable muscle definition through the jacket and seemed to have the most perfect bodies. If anything, it made Carter become insecure about herself.  
  
She turned towards the boxes that she had dropped before. She stacked them up again and picked them back up. "I really should be going," she said, interrupting their conversation.  
  
"Aww," Clint said. "Why can you stay here?" Nat, she assumed it was a nickname also looked at her in interest.  
  
"I've been here for a while," Carter explained. "Agent Lawson probably wants me back soon." Instead of saying goodbye, she stepped to the side and walked at a faster pace away from them. After she made it through the locked doors, she slowed down to a normal pace. She nudged the down button as she got the elevator. She took deep breathes as she waited for the elevator to come to the floor.  
  
As the doors opened, she walked inside and nudged the button she needed. As the doors closed again, she rested against the metal wall, letting the coolness calm her down. When to doors opened up again, she felt calmer. She walked the familiar path to the office. As she got to the scanner, she was able to nudge her bag into position for it to read her badge. She cursed the fact that these doors open outward as she tried to nudge the door open. Thankfully the door was electric so she was able to open it slightly enough to put her foot inside the gap and pushed it the rest of the way with her shin.  
  
She quickly stepped inside before the door could come back and hit her on the way closed. She walked around the back corner toward her desk and saw Bryce hard at work. She set the boxes down behind her desk and plopped into her chair.  
  
"That took a while," Bryce told her as he looked up from her work. "What happened?"  
  
"He sent me to a room to gather a whole bunch of files so that I can archive them."  
  
"Something else happened though," he insisted.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"If you grabbing files was the only thing that happened, you wouldn't be supporting a huge amount of blush."  
  
Carter brought her hands up to her cheeks and they were indeed still warm. She brought her hands down in continued talking. "I may have run into someone on the way back, literally."  
  
"Who?" Bryce whispered at her.  
  
"The woman called him Clint."  
  
"Describe the floor you were on," he insisted with a look of recognition on his face.  
  
"It looked like any other floor. It just had a gigantic five painted on the walls."  
  
"Did he have blonde hair and blue eyes?"  
  
"Yes...," Carter asked cautiously.  
  
"You ran into Clint Barton!" he whispered yelled at her.  
  
"Is that bad?" she asked him.  
  
"He's practically a legend here. He and his partner, Natasha, are the best of the best."  
  
"Would she have red hair by any chance?"  
  
"She does," he asked with an inquiring tone.  
  
"He called the woman that walked up to us Nat."  
  
Bryce looked at her as if she blew his mind. "It's only been three days and you've already met two celebrities. I bow down to you."  
  
Carter felt that mentioning that it wasn't the first time she met Clint Barton would be too much for him. But he continued.  
  
"But they are one of the cutest couples I've ever seen, Bryce informed her.  "They really balance each other."  
  
"They're together?" Carter asked.  
  
"Yeah. It's not exactly frowned upon here unless it affects your work. If anything, it prevents others from finding out the extent of what we do."  
  
"Makes sense. But can we talk about something else?"  
  
"Sure thing. We can talk about what work you have to do. I mean it could be worse. You're just scanning a bunch of files onto a flash drive and organizing it."  
  
"Yeah, about that," Carter said awkwardly. "I'm not allowed to scan the documents."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Apparently, using a scanner makes things get leaked out on the internet."  
  
Bryce stared at her blankly for a few seconds. He blinked a couple of times but didn't say anything else.  
  
"And he wants them to be done by year. And they go on for about fifty years or so."  
  
"Let me get this straight," Bryce started. "Lawson wants you to type up fifty years worth of documents and then organize them into a system." Carter nodded. "Wow. I knew he was evil, but not that evil. You are going to be working on that for months."  
  
"Yeah, and that's assuming that computers don't break in the meantime or I get assigned something else on top of that."  
  
"I'm so sorry."  
  
"There's really nothing I can do about it right now except get started," she said with resigning sigh. "You have a hundred page document to translate."  
  
"I'm done with five pages," Bryce said confidently.  
  
"Great job," she said cheekily. "At this rate, you'll be done next Friday."  
  
"I'm sorry, you were just gone for so long. I was worried. That and this makes absolutely no sense."  
  
"I thought you were a master translator."  
  
"I am, but this just sounds like someone put the real document through Google Translate a bunch of times and end up here."  
  
"That's gotta suck."  
  
"At this rate, I'm going to have to finish translating it and then try and back translate to a couple of different languages to see if some of the contents make sense."  
  
"Well, then, we both better get to work."  
  
Bryce and Carter both turned towards their computers. Bryce went back to translating the awful document. Carter logged into her computer and grabbed a document from the box closet to her. Once the desktop showed up, she plugged in the flash drive, opened a word document, and started copying.


End file.
